Ice Skating
by Mahogany Embers
Summary: JPLE oneshot. James convinces Lily to let him teach her to ice skate! Of course, with a little deal squeezed in for Lily's half of the bargain.


**Author's Note**: Yay! Another Lily and James one-shot! Weehee.

**Idea:** My best pal, Sabine. _--**Sabine Strohem-Moss** (username) She's amazing at writing!_--

**Disclaimer**: As much as I love Harry Potter, I don't own it. HP is J.K.'s, and J.K.'s only.

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Lily Evans was sitting in the Hogwarts library, her wand held up high in the air as she muttered "_Aguamenti!_" She frowned, bringing her eyebrows together, staring at the cup in front of her; no water had appeared. Sighing, Lily stuck her wand behind her ear, and leaned over the book that had been lying in front of her.

"I studied this spell _last_ year, and I have yet to master the spell!" she muttered bitterly.

It was a cold, Saturday afternoon in the middle of January. Most of the Hogwarts students were outside having snow ball fights, ice-skating, or making snow angels in front of the lake. Unfortunately, Lily was not one who enjoyed the winter; she liked to stay away from the snow as much as possible, leaving her to be the only one sitting in the library.

"That's not really a safe place to put your wand, Evans."

Lily closed her eyes, a painful expression occupying her face. She didn't need to look behind her to see who was there; she recognized the voice clearly.

"What do you need, Potter?" she asked fighting the urge to whip around and slap him away from existence.

"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go ice-skating with me," he said. James shoved his hands into his pockets, cocking an eyebrow at her. "You _are_ just reading in the library, and you're _alone_."

Lily threw him a scornful look and started to pack up her things that were scattered across the large table. "You know, maybe, _just maybe_, I might have _wanted_ to be alone!" she replied heatedly.

James was sure he sparked something within Lily. He always had. He was also sure whatever he sparked wasn't good. In _fact_, it _wasn't_ good; every time he happened to be in her presence, Lily prayed for the power of spiting fire.

James leaned closer to Lily, putting his mouth uncomfortably close to Lily's ear.

"Nobody likes to be alone, Evans," he whispered, sending a chill throughout her body.

Lily turned her head slowly to his face. "Well then I'm _nobody_, Potter, because I happen to like being alone and at peace." She narrowed her eyes at him, unfortunately not holding the ability to raise one eyebrow like the "talented" James Potter.

Lily swerved around in her chair, making to get up. "Oh, and by the way, Potter, I have the authority of deducting house points if you decided to harass me any more, you know."

"But it's your own house!" James spluttered.

He frowned, astonished. Not once in all the years had they gone to Hogwarts and Lily had gotten her place as a Prefect did she ever threaten him with authority.

Lily smiled widely. "Now _this_ I call verbal abuse. One more word, Potter, and--" Lily finished with a snap.

James raised his eyebrows. "Is that so?" he inquired, taking a step forward in front of Lily as she made for the door.

"_Yes_," she said sternly, pulling out her wand and pointing it straight at James' face.

James let out a loud, barking laugh, earning himself a dirty look from Madam Pince.

"Lily, Lily, Lily, my dear. Don't you see?" James set his face straight. "You should have long ago given up on threatening me!"

James gave her a small smile. "And besides, all I'm trying to do is--"

"What you're _trying_ to do is get me annoyed!" Lily glared at him, wand still in the air.

"No, all I'm trying to do is ask you to go ice-skating with me. But, out of curiosity from you're very logical guess, have I succeeded in getting you annoyed?" James smirked at her, deciding it was safe again to shove his hands into his pockets.

Lily lowered her wand, and stormed off, screaming "Prat!" as she walked around him.

James stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where Lily had been standing, and then pivoted, chasing after her.

Finally catching up to her, he continued to walk next to her. Lily let out a frustrated sigh, stopping and turning to face him.

"Ice-skating? Is that _absolutely_ all you want from me?" she asked, tapping her foot impatiently.

"At the moment, yes, Evans, that's all I want from you," James replied, nodding.

Lily stood silent, searching James' face. "Look, Potter, I think you should know that, don't laugh… that… well, I can't ice-skate," she said dumbly.

James laughed, and Lily frowned. "Prat," she muttered again, ready to walk away.

She felt a tug on her wrist and she looked at James, annoyance showing freely through her bright green eyes.

"Sorry," James said, a smile still on his face. "I only laughed because ironically I all ready knew that."

Lily shrugged. "That's not ironic at all."

James, ignoring her, continued, "When I meant ice-skating, I meant that I could show you how."

"You want to show me how to ice-skate?" Lily asked, dumbfounded.

"Well… yes. Yes, I do," James responded, nodding quickly.

Now it was Lily's turn to laugh. "Potter, don't think I've tried before. I'm hopeless, _I can't ice-skate_. And trust me, _many_ people have tried and tried to teach me, but no such luck. I'm a lost case when it comes to ice-skating." She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Besides, I don't even like the snow."

"How about giving me a chance, eh?" James frowned.

Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "_When_ is he going to stop asking that?" she muttered to herself.

"Pardon?"

"Potter, there's no way you'll succeed in teaching me to ice-skate."

James sighed. "And why is that?"

"Ever since I was little I was always able to do whatever I put my mind to. Anything I wanted to do, I could do it after a moment's time. It wasn't long until my mum took me and my sister, Petunia, ice-skating, and… well, I failed… miserably," Lily said, sighing.

James stared at her, amazed.

"I persevered for a long time, but… like I said no such luck."

"Wow," James said simply.

He sighed. "Yep, well there seems only one thing left to do."

"What's that?" Lily asked, overcome by curiosity.

"Let me teach you to ice-skate."

Lily stared. "I don't think so," she said, sighing.

James smirked, and whisked away a lock of Lily's hair from her forehead. Lily threw him a contemptuous look as she stood stock still.

"Then I'll have you a deal, OK?" James asked.

"A deal?" Lily asked curiously, crossing her arms.

"If _you_ let me teach you how to ice-skate, _I'll _tell you what you're doing wrong when you try and conjure water."

Lily stared at him, a frustration written in her eyes. Suddenly, her face relaxed a bit as she darted her eyes to the window behind James, looking at the lake. She gulped slowly.

James smiled. He knew he had won.

**--insert break here—**

"How do you put these things on?"

James turned to Lily who was seated next to him on the steps and laughed at the sight in front of him. Lily was sitting bent over her feet, one laden with only a sock, the other one half in one of the ice-skates James had managed to pull from the Quidditch locker rooms.

Her face was flushed pink from the cold wind, and the struggle between herself and the skate.

"Hey, slow down, Evans. You're never going to get it right like that."

James leaned over to her, grasping the ties away from her hands, and loosening them.

"There, stick you're foot in it."

Lily looked at the skate doubtfully. She turned to James who gave her a reassuring nod.

"Maybe this isn't such a great idea," she said regretfully.

James sighed. "This is, and you know it. Besides, if you don't then I wont tell you what your flaw is when you try and conjure water." He smirked at her, and Lily suddenly felt the need to ice-skate.

James turned back to his own skates, and stood up, stepping off the stairs, holding out a hand for Lily.

After a few moments of struggling with her skates, Lily looked up and stared at James' hand suspiciously. He gave her an exasperated sigh and extended his arm out further. Lily took it, and James pulled her up with ease. Lily pursed her lips.

"All right, let's go."

Lily turned to him quickly. "Go where?"

"To the lake, you know, where you skate. Are we going to have problems?" James stared at her somewhat worriedly.

"Oh, no. No problems, of course." Lily's cheeks flushed as she stared at the lake with fear.

James took her arm and led her through the snow as they made their way to the lake. Lily was terrified.

"Hey, Potter?"

James looked at her.

"What if… what if I fall into the lake? What if it cracks?" Lily cast another worried look towards the lake.

James laughed openly and stopped them. He shook his head as Lily gave him an annoyed look.

"Just _what_ is _so_ amusing?"

"You!" James managed to say through his fit of laughter. Lily huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "Why am _I_ so amusing, eh?"

James, who had finally calmed down enough only to fall to the ground when Lily threw a punch at his arm, sighed.

"Since when has _Lily Evans_ ever been afraid of anything?" he asked, staring at her with a smile that Lily was sure was going to be gone by the end of the little lesson.

"I am not afraid!" Lily exclaimed, frowning with a look of foreboding on her face. James chuckled, shaking his head.

"No, of course not," he said quietly, looking off towards the lake and resuming his pace.

Lily gulped as they reached the side of the lake where numerous pairs of eyes turned their attention to them, most of them looking quite confused. _Note to self: Next time _think_ before stepping into public standing next to James Potter_, Lily thought.

James stepped onto the ice, grabbing a hold of Lily's mitten-covered hand.

James, who steadied himself, stared at her. "Ready?"

"No," Lily murmured inwardly. She looked up at James. "Yes."

Smiling widely, James slowly pulled her towards him. He started to skate backwards, holding onto both Lily's hands. As one hand slipped from James, Lily started to wobble; she started to slip on the ice, and then finally, Lily fell.

Rubbing her bum, Lily frowned, and huffed. "I _told_ you, Potter. This is never going to work!"

James laughed, and Lily sighed. "Look, we _just_ got onto the ice. You can't expect to pick these things up so easily!"

"Easy for you to say!" Lily shot at him, "You can do _everything_; 'Oh, _James_, you're such a _wonderful_ Quidditch player!' and you can bloody ice-skate, too!" Lily breathed deeply, her face turning a light shade of red.

James smiled. "Yes, you're finished, are you?"

Lily let out a deep growl, holding up a hand which James grasped tightly.

"Lesson Number One: _Never_ look down. How do you expect to know where you're going when you're looking at your feet?"

Lily promptly looked up quickly, looking right into James' eyes.

"Watch me," he said.

James continued to skate slowly backwards and Lily inhaled sharply as he turned and they skated in a circle.

Lily smiled triumphantly and let go of James' hand.

"Um, Lily--"

"No, I can skate!"

"Evans, you should really--"

"I think I've got the hang of it!"

"Lily--"

Lily slid once again on the ice, this time falling straight onto her back. She blinked rapidly before frowning up at James who sighed and shook his head, a smile still occupying his face. "Too much confidence, you have."

"I do not!" she replied indignantly, holding out her hand again, waiting for James' to pull her up.

He stared at her hand and shook his head. "Lesson Number Two: If you fall, you fall. Pull yourself up."

Lily looked around her at her peers. A few of them were looking at her strangely, and she caught a glimpse of a curly blonde boy snickering. She flushed, knowing that she must look ridiculous.

She moved her hands, her feet, and her hips at the same time as she struggled to get to her feet. James' looked at her, standing there with a confused look on his face.

"It shouldn't be this hard to get up…"

"Well it _is_, Potter, so if you don't mind?" Lily held out a hand again expectantly.

Defeated, James pulled her up. He sighed. "All right, so you can't get up, this might not be good…"

Lily had a spasm of panic cross over her. "Not good? How… how about we focus on skating?"

James shrugged. Why not? At least she got the basics of standing. He grasped both of her hands again. She tugged them out of his grip.

"No, I want to try on my own." She steadied herself for a moment, before slowly taking off.

She let out a laugh of glee. She was skating smoothly and carefully, balancing herself on the skates, and looking ahead. Feeling free, she turned, skating back towards James.

James widened his eyes at her, motioning for her to stop. She shook her head, suddenly worried, and screamed.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "LESSON NUMBER THREE: LEARN HOW TO STO--"

Lily crashed into James, and they both went toppling to the ground. James, swearing, pushed Lily off of himself, brushing off the snow that had covered his face.

"Ouch!"

James glanced over to Lily, who was holding her ankle loosely with a pained expression on her face. "I think it's sprained," she wheezed.

James gulped. "Sprained?"

**--insert break here—**

Lily sighed. There was no way of getting out until Monday.

James sat next to Lily in the Hospital Wing, where he was apologizing repeatedly to Lily.

"It wasn't your fault, Potter!"

"No, no, no, it was! I should've told you how to--"

"No it was my own carelessness, like in everything."

James sat silent, staring at Lily. She sighed and opened her mouth to speak again.

"I--"

Madam Pomfrey bustled over holding a large silver platter with two bottles and a glass of pumpkin juice on it. Handing Lily the larger bottle, she motioned for her to drink it.

"That'll lessen the pain in that ankle."

Lily retched; the taste was horrible. Madam Pomfrey handed her the other bottle that was noticeably smaller. "That'll send you to sleep. Oh, and here's some pumpkin juice to get rid of the taste."

She walked away quickly, bringing the empty bottle with her. Lily watched as the potion bubbled inside the bottle, before turning to James who looked at her worriedly.

Lily laughed. "Honestly, Potter, you're acting like I'm dying! It's only a sprained ankle! It'll be fine by tomorrow!"

James, however, did not look the least bit reassured.

She smiled at him and shook her head. "I thought I'd never say this, but… thanks, Potter. That was a really nice thing you did for me."

Surprised, James said, "But you sprained your ankle!"

"Nothing Madam Pomfrey can't mend. On a brighter note, I learned how to ice-skate!"

James cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Well, I was on the ice, and that's all that matters. Thank you," she said, smiling. She leaned over to James, placing a peck on his cheek. James' eyes widened in shock, but before he could say anything, Lily had drunk the sleeping potion and her eyes were starting to droop.

"What about my part of the deal? What was I doing wrong with the spell?" Lily asked, yawning.

James stared at her. "Oh, _that_?"

Lily nodded, and shifted to her side, snuggling into the pillows.

James smirked at her and cleared his throat.

"Lesson Number Four: Pay more attention to me and maybe you'd catch me when I bluff."

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**Review please!I actually got this to 9 pages on Word! Yay! Now REVIEW and make me happy! SQUEE!**


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